This invention relates to a method for temporarily storing flat objects in the form of sheets, envelopes or compositions therefrom.
For producing a mail item different operations can be carried out in line. It is for instance known to collect documents and appendices such as preprinted sheets and return envelopes, to fold them before or after collecting and finally to pack the thus obtained compositions in envelopes, in a mechanized and in-line manner. The stations for performing these operations in a mechanized manner have been especially designed for this purpose and for mutual cooperation, allowing the flow of mail items in the making to be controlled by a central control unit or by intercommunication between the stations, and accumulations of successive components intended for different mail items to be prevented.
However, if it is desired to print the documents in line, a printer should be disposed upstream of the stations that have been attuned to each other. Printers are apparatuses having a specific technology. For this reason, it is generally more attractive to utilize commercially available printers for this than to develop or adapt a printer especially for that purpose. Moreover, for many users, the possibility of using a standard printer offers the advantage that a printer which is already present can be used in combination with the apparatus for composing mail items for in-line printing and finishing printed documents to become mail items. Normally, however, printers for general use are not designed for cooperation with apparatuses disposed downstream thereof, as a consequence of which provisions are required for causing the output of the printer to connect with the input of the downstream apparatus (for instance an apparatus for composing mail items).